Ohio College Basketball Insider

It is the tail end of the regular season, but predicting which teams will earn the top four seeds for the Mid-American Conference tournament is a spin of the roulette wheel.

Mark Znidar, The Columbus Dispatch

Bobcats have special makeup

It is the tail end of the regular season, but predicting which teams will earn the top four seeds for the Mid-American Conference tournament is a spin of the roulette wheel.

No matter where Ohio University ends up, though, it will be one of the favorites to win the championship and receive the automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

With games remaining at Kent State on Wednesday and at Miami University on Friday, the Bobcats (23-6, 10-4) and Buffalo are two games behind Akron in the East Division. They can clinch one of the top four seeds in the conference tournament with one more victory and secure the No. 2 seed by winning two games.

Ohio was impressive in thrashing Akron 85-61 on ESPN on Sunday night at the Convocation Center.

The team has plenty of talent, but it also is tough.

When Ohio lost at Robert Morris, Bowling Green and Akron after a 12-2 start, the knee-jerk reaction might have been to poke at the soft nonconference schedule.

Six victories followed.

The players also responded after consecutive losses at Toledo and Eastern Michigan with victories over Bowling Green, North Carolina-Asheville, Buffalo and Akron.

"I think it's the players we have and our coaching staff," said 6-foot-8, 260-pound junior forward Reggie Keely of the mindset.

"We have that will to win. Coach (John Groce) tells us that most teams don't prepare like us to win. We take this very seriously."

The roster is loaded with scorers in point guard D.J. Cooper, guards Nick Kellogg of DeSales and Ohio State transfer Walter Offutt and forward Ivo Baltic.

Intensity, though, has made the Bobcats special.

"What makes us click is how well we interact with one another," Keely said. "Our team chemistry is very high. There is so much effort. That helps our chances of winning games. Everybody comes to play. We give it up every night."

Ohio was one of the MACs' top scoring teams last season, but a leaky defense led to a 19-16 record and early exit in the conference tournament against Ball State.

Groce vowed that opponents no longer would get clean looks at the basket. Keely said the Bobcats have a different mindset.

"It's that time of year - win or go home," Keely said. "It's playoff time and we're trying to make a run. Every ball and every play is so important. I really want to win this year. I'll dive on the floor - anything - to get a win."

Capital men have the faith

Capital players knew before the first game that they did not have the talent to match baskets with the best teams. They proved that when they lost nonconference games to Wittenberg, Denison and Ohio Wesleyan and were 5-6.

They never stopped believing they could win, though, and find themselves in the NCAA Division III Tournament after defeating Wilmington 70-60 in the Ohio Athletic Conference tournament championship game.

Capital (18-9) will play Randolph-Macon (21-6) in the first round on Friday at Wooster.

"We all started to take responsibility for everything," junior forward Spencer Niekamp said. "We focused on defense and stopped giving up points We said, 'Give the other team nothing.' "

Coach Damon Goodwin sat on the bench in wonder during the trophy presentation on Saturday at the Capital Center.

Some of his best teams that included All-Americans have not made it to the postseason.

"This is probably the hardest-working group with the greatest chemistry that I've ever had," said Goodwin, who is in his 18th season. "They bought into everything we said as a coaching staff."

Goodwin feared the players had nothing left to give after earning a share of the regular-season championship with John Carroll. In previous years, there would be more film study and X's and O's during practice. This year, it was physical.

"Oh, yes, we'd get mad at each other in practice," Niekamp said. "Things would get pretty physical, and that was every day.

"Practices were tough, but fun. It brought out our fire."

Despite getting a piece of the regular-season title, the Crusaders knew they had to win the tournament to get into the NCAA Tournament because of their nine losses.

"The adrenaline kicked in during the OAC tournament," Niekamp said. "We needed to get that automatic bid."

Ohio Wesleyan gets bid

Ohio Wesleyan finished third in the North Coast Athletic Conference and lost to Wooster in the conference tournament semifinals, but the NCAA Tournament committee awarded the Bishops an at-large bid.

OWU (20-7) will play Hobart (22-5) in a first round game on Friday in Radnor, Pa.

"We were hopeful because our strength of schedule was really strong," coach Mike DeWitt said. "We thought we deserved this. Our league was strong top to bottom."

This is the Bishops' second appearance in the NCAA Tournament since 2008, when they made the Sweet 16.

DeWitt said the program has reached the point where the players should shoot for the moon.

"We had a hiccup or two here and there this year, but we also had some very good wins," he said. "We were disappointed losing in the semifinals to Wooster. We didn't play well. This is a chance to prove we belong."

Denison a victory short

Denison coach Bob Ghiloni sat in his office yesterday morning upset that there would be no more games to prepare for. The Big Red lost 53-51 to Wooster in the NCAC championship game on Saturday.

The Big Red (14-14) won eight of its last 11 games, including over Wabash in the first round of the conference tournament and regular-season champion Wittenberg in the semifinals.

It was Denison's first victory at Wittenberg since the 1949-50 season.

"We think we can play with anybody at this point, and we're terribly disappointed not going to the NCAA," Ghiloni said. "The seniors set the tone for our team. We said this is how you have to lead. We said stick with it and it will pay off."

Ghiloni said Denison lost too many games it could have won early in the season.

"We talk all the time about winning, but also the lessons," he said. "The process (of learning how to win) is important. To their credit, our guys never stopped believing. It was a good run. It's been pretty sad around here the last 48 hours. But these guys have experienced big games night after night."